Though it was rare they went a day without talking anymore, she knew Molly was spending the day with her family and hadn’t expected a reply to the Merry Christmas she’d sent earlier that morning.
I’ve been questioned four times about why I haven’t brought anyone to dinner. Why is it any of their business?
Eva chuckled at Molly’s words. Ah, the pitfalls of family functions. It was times like these Eva was grateful her own family was small.
Because families are nosy?Eva suggested, wondering whether she should tackle the kitchen countertops or the bathrooms next.
Is yours?
Not much family to speak of.A father who walked away and never looked back. A mother with a strained relationship with her parents choosing a fresh start somewhere new.It’s just me and my mother. But yes, she is nosy. Asks me at least once a week if I’ve met anyone new. Tells me I need to put myself out there more.
Why don’t you?
Eva considered the question as she started scrubbing the marble counters. She blamed the endorphins for making her answer so honest.
I think part of me is scared of getting hurt.
Had your heart broken too many times?
Only once.Victoria was the only woman Eva had ever truly let close. Eva let her mind drift, remembering winter breaks spent wrapped up in one another, mixing the traditions of two families into one.But it’s not an experience I want to repeat.
So you’re never going to open up to anyone again?If it were from anyone else, Eva would have bristled at the question, reading judgment between the lines. But Molly wasn’t like that.
Maybe when the right person comes along.Not that Eva thought that was ever likely to happen. She’d have to let it, and showing vulnerability had never been her strong suit.What about you? Why are you still single?
Turning the question around was safest. Even with Molly, Eva had her limits to what she was willing to reveal.
No one will put up with me.
Eva narrowed her eyes, because she’d given a real, raw answer, and Molly was palming her off with something vague. Annoyed, Eva put her phone aside and went back to scrubbing, more fiercely than before.
Her phone buzzed again, making her pause.
No, that’s not true. To be honest, I find dating exhausting. Getting to know someone, opening up to them, trying to see if you’d be a good fit only to discover, in the end, it doesn’t work and having to start all over again. I thought I’d finally found someone, when I met my ex, and then it turned out she’d been cheating on me for almost the whole relationship. I only found out after we’d bought a place together. And pretty much all my friends—or I thought they were my friends—knew but didn’t tell me. They let me think I was losing my mind. When we broke up, I couldn’t handle being around any of them anymore. I ended up moving halfway across the country. Kinda hard to summon the will to start again after that.
Eva blinked. Well, she’d wanted honesty, and Molly had certainly given it to her. She received another message.
Sorry. That was a lot.
It’s okay. You can tell me anything.The message felt too heavy, but Eva pressed send anyway.I’m sorry that happened to you.
Thanks. I think part of my problem is I keep finding myself attracted to unattainable people, too. That way I can’t get hurt, because it’ll never happen, you know?
I do.Wasn’t that what Eva was doing right then with Molly? The only reason she told Molly half the things she did was because it felt less real, hiding behind a screen.
We make quite the pair, don’t we?
They could, perhaps, in another life. They could, perhaps, manage to make a go of things, if only Eva were to take a leap. The foundations were there—Molly was kind, and attentive, and a bit of a dork but in an endearing way Eva liked to make fun of.
She didn’t want to ruin things. She didn’t want to—in Molly’s words—“have to start all over again”.
Better to have this, than nothing at all.
* * *
Lily loved her family, but her limit on social interaction had been reached somewhere around the fourth round of charades, watching her mother attempt to act outMagic Mike.
She escaped outside for a breath of fresh air—and spluttered when she inhaled a mouthful of cigarette smoke.
